What is Man? (Genesis 2:4-7) Part I

What is Man?
Genesis 2:4-7
Biblical & Theological Terms:
1. Toledoth - Also spelled toledot, this is the literal story or genetic line that came from…a person or event. Knowing the toledot they came from gave the Israelites context for what God was asking of them when they entered the Promised Land…Most of all, the toledot showed them how God had worked in the past and how He was sure to work in the present [to fulfill His promises].” There are nine toledots in Genesis (2:4, 5:1, 6:9, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12-13, 25:19, 36:1,9, 37:2).
2. Law of Recurrence - This is a hermeneutical principle which observes that often in Scripture there are two blocks of passages side by side. The first block of Scripture gives an account of an event or a person from start to finish in chronological order. This is followed by a second block of Scripture that goes back to an earlier time within the first block, in order to give more details as to how certain things or events happened. This technique is not unique to Genesis…It is a common method of biblical writers that should not be missed. Therefore, there is no need to postulate the theory of different documents written at different times by different authors, put together much later by a “redactor” trying to harmonize the different accounts…Recurrence is frequent in Scripture and should simply be recognized for the method that it is.
I. Man’s Domain (v. 4-6)
A. Man’s Start (v. 4)
B. Man’s Surroundings (v. 5-6)
a. Verse five appears to state a contradiction with events in chapter 1.
b. Four Possible Solutions to this apparent contradiction:
1. Mediate Creation - what God commanded the earth to produce on the third day had not yet become visible on the sixth day. The process was not an immediate creation.
2. Statement Review of Creation- the author may simply be describing the earth before events of the third day, as a precursor and introduction to man’s creation.
3. Edenic Creation - the author may simply be describing the creation and installment of man in the garden. That is, there were no plants and shrubs set within the context of the Garden of Eden.
4. Perspective Creation - the author is distinguishing the pre and post fall states regarding cultivated plants, rain, and man having to till the ground, as he writes in a post fallen world.
c. Verse 6 reveals how God watered the earth. A mist came up from the ground. It will not rain until Noah’s time, where God will flood the whole earth.
II. Man’s Design (v. 7)
A. Man’s Substance (v.7)
a. Man was created a bipartite unity of body and spirit, though this is debated.

1. Spirit and Soul can be used interchangeably in the Bible to describe the whole of the inner person (example: John 12:27, 13:21; Luke 1:46-47):
b. Origin of the Soul (Immaterial Facet of Man’s Inner Being)
1. Creationism - This view holds that God creates the soul at the moment of conception and then places the soul into the developing fetus.
2. Traducianism - This view holds that both the material (body) and immaterial (soul) facets of a person are both produced through the natural procreation process.
• After God rested on the Sabbath, He does not perform any more ex nihilo creations.
• A biblical example from Hebrews 7:10 demonstrates that Levi was already in Abraham, as a full person, when Abraham paid a tithe to Melchizedek.
Point to Ponder:
Genesis is important because it tells us where we have come from and that ultimately, we have a final destination. You are not an eternal being but every human being is immortal, because of the imago dei. That means you had a beginning, a starting point, but you will have no end. In light of this fact, do you know where you will be one million years from now and how can you be sure of that final destination? If you do not know or are not sure, then today is your day of salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31) and you can know that heaven is your final destination.
Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Ariel’s Bible Commentary: The Book of Genesis, 1st ed. (San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2008), 70-71.
Ibid., 72.
John MacArthur, “The Creation of Man,” Online. Accessed 06/26/24 www.gty.org/library/sermons-l...
Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Basic Theology (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 225.
John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 424.
J. Oliver Buswell, A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1962), 252.